[dZired]

Hero MotoCorp has invested Rs. 205 crore in a Bangalore-based electric two-wheeler start-up named Ather Energy. The Indian two-wheeler manufacturer revealed this new investment after its board sanctioned the said amount, terming it a strategic investment. Hero is looking at controlling approximately 26-30% of shares in the start-up through this new funding round.

Ather Energy was formed in 2013 by IIT Madras graduates Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. It focuses on electric mobility with the aim of bringing connected electric vehicles within reach of the masses. The founders claimed that there won’t be any changes to the company's planned portfolio and way of working after the new round of funding.

Ather Energy had earlier received a funding of USD 12 million from Tiger Global. This sum was used in the research and development of the company's first electric scooter - the Ather S340. The S340 is powered by a lithium-ion battery, and is built on an aluminium frame. It was unveiled in February, 2016. The S340 has a company claimed top speed of 75 km/h. With the latest round of funding, Ather Energy is now planning to build a manufacturing plant with a capacity of 10,000 units, which can be scaled up as per demand.

Source: Car and Bike

[GTO]

Wow, that's very impressive. No better attestation of Ather Energy's capability than India's biggest 2-wheeler manufacturer investing a tidy sum in it. Leaving the money aside, the real value is here = Ather Energy will learn a lot about production, sales & marketing, distribution etc. from Hero. After all, who knows the 2-wheeler market better than them (stop grinning, Honda)?

Shows that the li'l company means business. Wish them well. There's certainly a lot of interest around the S340.

Check out Samurai's awesome report here.

[alpha1]

Generated quite a buzz on TBHP some time back: [edit] already posted by GTO.
And the best thing is that Hero plonking in monies will definitely result in something on-road!

Hero: please pay attention to the particular post: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...ml#post3925158 and the detail: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...ml#post2739096

[TusharK]

Hero MotoCorp has announced a further investment of Rs. 84 crore in Ather Energy. The company now controls a 34.58% stake in the Bangalore-based electric scooter brand.



In 2016, Hero MotoCorp had invested Rs. 205 crore in the company as part of Series B funding. Prior to the latest round of investment, Hero had a stake of 31.27% in the company.

Ather Energy is now looking to scale up its operations and expand to 20 cities by the end of 2021. The company will launch its electric scooters in Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi and Mumbai and deliveries will begin in October, this year.

Ather is also setting up a new manufacturing facility in Hosur. The new factory has an annual capacity of 1,00,000 units and is scalable to 5,00,000 units.

The company plans to set up Ather Grid fast charging points across the country over the next 5 years.

Link to Team-BHP News

[Venkatesh]

Hero MotoCorp to invest Rs 420 crore in Ather Energy. This latest investment will increase the stake owned by Hero MotoCorp in Ather Energy. The company’s board has approved the investment in one or more tranches.

Hero MotoCorp, which first invested in the Bengaluru-based EV start-up in October 2016, in Series B funding, and invested Rs 84 crore more in July 2020 to hike its stake in Ather to 34.58 percent, has also invested $12 million (Rs 89 crore) as a part of the Series D round in Ather Energy. Following this investment, Hero's shareholding will increase, and the exact shareholding will be determined upon completion of the capital raise round by Ather.

Source

[Abhikumar629]

Good Move. Best way to acquire technology and IP without putting effort towards development. I am sure it would have costed them a lot more money had they tried their hands on R&D in-house.

[Venkatesh]

Ather Energy raises USD 128 million (Rs 992 crore) in Series E funding.



The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited’s (NIIFL), India's sovereign fund and Hero MotoCorp are the major contributors in this round of funding.





Link

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Venkatesh

Ather Energy raises USD 128 million (Rs 992 crore) in Series E funding.

I had no idea there was a Series E (or even D) funding cycle. Max I'd heard of before was A,B,C. Shouldn't the company have gone public by now before so many rounds of funding?

Probably a question for the economics thread, but are there standard definitions for these rounds? Like say a certain range of funding that defines what round of funding this is? Or is it just sequential, and you raise whatever you can?

Found a couple of articles that define the rounds:
https://www.startups.com/library/exp...ding-a-b-c-d-e

https://www.investopedia.com/article...w-it-works.asp

Both seem to suggest that the company probably should have gone public after 3 rounds, that it hasn't indicates they haven't met their expectations, or perhaps the investors don't want to go public yet.

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by am1m

I had no idea there was a Series E (or even D) funding cycle. Max I'd heard of before was A,B,C. Shouldn't the company have gone public by now before so many rounds of funding?

These letters are arbitrary. They change depending on size of round, timing, economic cycle, type of industry, and general market sentiment. I have know 7 million seed rounds and 3 million A rounds. Swiggy is at a J round now, by the way.

Going public in India, for such tech companies, is not advisable. IPOs are only now being allowed for loss-making companies, with different norms. The Indian market is not deep enough (IMHO, and others') to understand newer technologies. I hold no brief for Ather, but their company is not a shady fly-by-night operator.

Originally Posted by am1m

Both seem to suggest that the company probably should have gone public after 3 rounds, that it hasn't indicates they haven't met their expectations, or perhaps the investors don't want to go public yet.

Ather's first product was delayed by more than two years, if memory serves me right.

What is worrisome is that the Indian government has invested here. Venture capital is an inherently risky asset class. GoI has no business investing our hard-earned tax money in such endeavours.

This is also a huge political signal. If I were Ola, I would be worried.